Sharp Turn
by Shirogane
Summary: First of 'Turn' Series Completed. Life is never as simple as one make out to be, especially not to one who never forgets even they reborn again and again or will the other let them forget even if they tried. FFVIII crossover Naruto. Slash/Het Implied


Sharp Turn

AU FFVIII

Cross-reference Naruto

Declaimer: Do Not own Final Fantasy VIII or Naruto. Merely written for fun.

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Slash Implied, Het Implied

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Sharp Turn 01

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Green eyes glowed softly in the dimmed light of the bar. Calling this establishment a bar was pushing it seeing it was run down, dingy and crawling with shady characters no one with an ounce of self respect will associate with.

And it was the kind of setting that he could walk around in his own face and not fearing that someone would screamed like that seen their mother being butcher right in front of them. Being the Sorceress' Knight was not the most popular occupation right now, especially if their Sorceress had tried to take over the world with no good intent.

Not that he cared. He was a mercenary, one that had been trained since he could recall. There was no right or wrong. The Gils will wash away any type of conscience lurking in the back of his mind. Not that there had been conscience visiting for years now.

Usually no one knew what kind of job he did other than his employers and the dead but seeing someone had gotten hold of his picture and broadcast all over the media, it had become the newest trend to 'try to destroy the last link to the Evil Bitch'.

Seifer snorted as he lightly twirl the glass of piss like liquor in his gloved hand. His seat in the right corner of the room ensured his vision able to pick up everyone in the room. A good precaution that had been drill into him since as far back as he could remember.

Oh trust him, his memory wasn't as mess up as rest of the group of orphans, what he didn't bring up didn't mean he didn't remember. He never once forgot about Edea and rest of the kids when he's in Garden unlike the goody two shoes who just threw all their memories to the Guardian Forces for power.

He could recall more than his share of his childhood and something... more...

He wasn't sure but it seemed he could remember his past lives... a scattered lane of memories, snap shots, emotions...

And faces.

Those faces haunt him. Every time he closed his eyes they would show themselves in his dream. Demanding him, calling him... and make his blacken heart bleed.

He thought he had gotten over it. Ultimecia had helped him. For the brief period of time the Sorceress had able to suppress his 'ghosts'. But as the Sorceress disappeared, they had return with a vengeance.

Not only were they like a screen playing in his mind. He found himself reliving his past lives-

--

"_You know drinking is bad for you right?" The pink hair woman said with no small amount of concern lacing in her brilliant green eyes. The look he had once would have done everything to have it directed at him but he had out grew that silly puppy love when his other team mate all but stole his everything..._

"_We are allowed to kill but not allow getting ourselves drunk?" The man with a long mass of blond hair growl from where he was slopping over the bar glaring menacing at the sake in his hand. _

"_And both of us know 'I' can't get drunk. 'She' won't allow her damnable jailor to get kill this easily." The blond said with a sneer. Expression that seemed almost feral over his vulpine feature, his eyes had narrowed and slanted as the years pass by. When he narrowed his eyes to smile, he looked almost like a fox was smiling. The fox in him would never let anyone denied her existence. _

"_..." The pink hair woman didn't say anything to his come back slipping into the stool next to the blond she wave the bar tender over. _

"_Watch me get drunk and get me back to my place in one piece will you?" She said and drunk straight from the bottle- _

--

Irvine tried to keep the frown out of his face. This 'bar' was getting to him. The slate smell of rotten alcohol, body odour, the cheap choking perfumes from the prostitutes creating a very uninviting aroma.

The sharp shooter begun to doubt the credibility of the 'dealer' who sold him the piece of information. There's no way that the former knight of the sorceress could be find in a place like this-

Irvine ate his word. He paused in his steps as his eyes widen at the man who lightly gave him a toast with his half full beer mug. A very familiar man, blond hair, green eyes, the same scar that grace another brunette's face-

But he also noticed something very wrong. The hair was too long. For only a few months Seifer's blond hair was brushing against the seating as the other man lean forward and wave him over. Those sharp green eyes were darker now, almost a violet hue in the dim lighting.

"My, my, what a surprise...what bring a respectable SeeD like you to a place like this?" Irvine pulls the chair and sat across from the blond man that had at least five bottle of mix matched wine and beer bottles litter on the table. Given the liquor Seifer seemingly consumed, he acted like he had been drinking nothing but mere water.

Irvine took a deep breath and start talking-

--

"_I did care for you." The raven hair man whispered to the blond as the other limping away from him. His 'Tenant' was already healing him as he drag himself away from the rubble that was once a growing village, the now dead place that had been their latest battleground. _

"_And Tonton grew wings and fly." The blond reply with the bitterness that had always in him but hidden when he's younger. _

"_..." The dark hair man didn't say anything. Dull foamless black eyes follow the other until the blond vanished out of sight. _

--

A snicker cut Irvine off his sentence. Seifer merely gave the other a fox like grin. So close to smirking yet with a hint of amusement like he had seen right through him. Irvine squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.

"Oh, my dear Irvy. What make you think I want to go back? That this fallen Sorceress Knight would like to have anything to do with a place that was breeding good little toy soldiers aiming to kill his Mistress?" Seifer purred with sadistic pleasure at seeing the lanky young man pale at his words. A trait he learnt from the master of Master Sadist that ever graced the earth.

Irvine gulped down the heavy lump in his throat. Hyne, he was hoping that Seifer had snapped out of what ever mind control Ultimecia place on him. They all had been hoping that Seifer was still the same Seifer they knew over the years after the war had settle...

"The truth if you don't mind Irvine." Seifer sneered so much like someone that had been his best friend and brother in his previous life. "I don't like to deal with people lying right in front of me. Just to let you know I tend to kill them before they could utter one more lie through their teeth." Shinobi was killer, Shinobi was assassin, and Shinobi was the best of the best liars. And he was trained in detecting lies from as long as the world damned him. The Fox was the only master in deception and to him, being the only cell mate with the Nine-tails had its own morbid advantages.

Irvine pale face ashen.

--

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Sharp Turn 02

--

'_The wind is singing.' His only companion mummer in his mind as the sea breeze sweep by him, around him like a lover's caress... lover... The blond would have laugh if he wasn't so tire, drained both physically and emotionally. He lay on his back on the chakra burned ground and stared at the cloudless sky. It's so anti dramatic. The weather didn't break like they use to anymore for their 'Destined Fights'. It's a prefect clear sky. The kind that Shikamarou would kill to lazy in instead of being six feet under the ground somewhere in the Kusa, but the lazy genius was long dead. His corpse had been hastily burned then buried as their squad running away from the enemies. _

_Ten feet away, he heard the black hair Uchiha crawling toward him. He could barely make out the urgent shout of the other now. Funny, it was when he didn't care anymore that Sasuke become frantic and worried. _

'_Don't you dare close your eyes! Stay awake Naruto!' Sasuke yelled as he will his injured body to move faster, fast enough to reach the idiotic blond that was dying merely within arms reach from him. _

'_Lover...' His mind slowed as he couldn't even feel the fox's conscious but Sasuke's voice was still calling to him. So very tired... could he rest now...Sasuke... _

'_NARUTO!!' Sasuke's scream was the only sound that accompanied him as he fell through the darkness-_

--

_Weak. Weakling. Mud rats. Lowlifes. Scums. Morons that were screaming to be targeted and slaughtered like the smelly pigs they were. _

Kyuubi's chant in his mind was like an over sung lullaby. Seifer suppress the urge to roll his eyes. The fox had been saying nothing but the same thing ever since they boarded the transport and heading toward Garden. To tell the truth, Estharian Technology always impress him, one could never fault Adel for her lack of creativities. The red hair Sorceress was cruel but she was also brilliant when it comes to technology.

The Ragnorak was a state of art. It's not machinery more than it's almost alive with grace and elegance. He wondered what Adel dream about when she was sealed off... what she was thinking when Laguna sealed her and when her own Knight betray her trust...

Oh contrary to what other believe he knew more about Sorceress than one would think. Like he knew Adel had a Knight that had never fight for her, like Edea was a coward that fear everything that had power to over come her, like Cid was nothing but a scamming money grabbing fool that sold his own wife to get what he wanted, like who exactly Ultimecia was before she came back to the past...

But like in all his life times, those secrets were only meant to die along with him. No one other than the fox would believe him about the things he knew...

Sometime he wonder what Sasuke would have done if he knew it was the Hokage that order the total extermination of the Uchiha Clan. What his crazy lover would have done if he knew that the only reason why Itachi was framed and forced to become a missing Nin and spy was because he left his little brother alive and the Hokage threaten to kill him off to control Itachi.

He wondered what Tsunade was thinking when she gave the First's necklace to him then gave the order to the anbu to assassinate him. He would like to believe Sakura didn't know about the order but even that thought was crushed to pieces when the pink hair woman came over to his house with a drugged bento box. Sakura would never know that he had smell out the drug even before she set foot in his house, she would never know that all he ever wanted to do was to snap her neck when she smiled at him and urge him to eat her food. She would never know he had thrown the bento out the moment she was out of range.

He had left Konoha that night but not before he did some irreversible damage to the rotten leaf that sculptured a beast such as him. All Council members, the Sarutobi, the Inuzuka, the Aburme, the Hyuuga, the Hokage, her personal assistant, her pupil were found murdered with their throat slit in their sleep.

The Blood drenched Demon of Konoha laughed as he vanished into the night. Kage Bunshin combined with the advance shadow control of the Nara Clan had worked wonders for him. He must really thank the genius who had taught him his family jutsu when they were running for their lives in the enemy territory. But too bad, Shikamarou had died and he had live. He doubted the lazy genius would have thought he would turn his blade against Konoha.

Seifer scoffed. Did those fool really believe Naruto would want to protect a place that treat him like the lowest life form there was and to continuously protect those moronic people that had done nothing but to abuse him since he could remember?

What could he say, Kyuubi really was the master of all deception and trust him, he learnt from only the best of the best. He had even fool Kyuubi at one point and the two of them had share a mind and body.

--

Irvine fidgeted uncomfortably. Everything was not going according to plan. From the moment he laid his eyes on Seifer in that pub everything went out of control.

He was supposed to reassure the blond that everything will be alright. That they all forgive him and willing to accept him back to the Garden.

The blond was suppose to be grateful, he was suppose to feel relief that he was forgiven and yet, those sharp eyes seemingly seen right through him. To the very last thought in his mind, Seifer seem to know what they were trying to do and were only humouring him when he came along.

Irvine shivered as he felt those eyes on him again. His nervousness was acting up again. He thought he could pull this off. It was not suppose to be this hard. But he felt exactly the same when he hesitated to pull the trigger and take his shot at Edea in Deling.

Seifer knew what he was thinking.

Such thought refuse to leave his mind. He knew it was ridiculous. Only really powerful Sorceress could read minds and while the blond was many things, he was never a Sorceress...

Green eyes flashed in crimson gold before they return to its normal color again. Seifer grinned like he knew exactly what the lanky young man was thinking about moments ago.

Wasn't he? Irvine was not so certain now, he knew it was not the light that was playing tricks on him. Seifer's eyes really did change colors for a split second.

Seifer was not a Sorceress. Right?

--

The group of SeeDs all done in uniforms stood with almost nervous anticipation as they watched the aircraft landed. The hatch opened with a low hiss and the lanky cowboy came into view with a tired grin waving a little as he turn and gesture the other to come down with him. Stepping out of the latches shadow was someone both familiar and unfamiliar. It was Seifer, the same blond that Irvine was send to retrieve and yet there's something seem totally out of place from him.

Gone with his trademark grey trench coat that adorned the crimson sword of Hyne, in turn the blond was dress in a pitch black coat made out materials they couldn't put a name on. His hair had gotten longer, so much longer in the span of few months reaching near pass his hip, he had tie them in the back of his neck in a lazy braid. The scar on his face seems fade out a lot more than the one on Squall's face, giving it a pale pink tint. From their point of view, they couldn't even be sure if the blond had his gunblade with him, his coat had gone down almost to this ankle hiding everything from view, but there's some weirdness in him.

It must be the way he walked now, an almost lazy stride unlike the militaristic way he use to...

"Welcome back to the Garden. Seifer." Quistis step forward to greet her former student only stopped when Irvine, who was standing next to the former Knight, pale at her action. Noting the expression on the lanky man's face, the Instructor slash deputy Headmistress turn to look at him.

"Irvine? Is there something wrong?" Irvine gulped, sneaking a glance at the taller blond who merely smirked at him. The sharp shooter shook his head.

"No, nothing's wrong."

He lied.

--

Sharp Turn 03

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Six and a half month since the war ended. Six and a half months was not a very long time but changes could occur in seconds notice. In this last six months, people change, things change and the world changed.

Quistis knock on Seifer's door, this dorm was actually one of the instructor's dorms but they all felt it will be better to get the blond somewhere normal students and Seeds couldn't bother him. Selphie was actually jumping up and down next to her the bouncy girl was holding a plate of breakfast from the cafeteria hoping that they might defuse some of the tensions between the former knight and the Garden.

But neither of them expected to see Irvine opening the door and let them in.

"Irvine? Why are you here this early?" Quistis asked and the cowboy shrugged.

"I bump into Matron and got roped into helping her carrying all the things she wants to get to Seifer. Matron's cooking breakfast right now." Irvine explained even before Quistis asked again. All three SeeDs exchange a weird look.

Matron, Edea had divorce Cid four months ago, it had become quit a sore spot for the older man as they had heard more than once the shouting match between the two. In the end, Matron had won and Cid was striped out of all his authority over the Garden and the White Ship. The older man left with a very angry scowl with only his own private account of Gils. The younger generation wasn't given the full story of what was truly going on between the older couple but according to Ellone, it wasn't something they had any say over so they kept their mouth and just welcome Matron like they always would when they were younger.

But even with all the times Matron was spending between the Garden and her Ship, she had yet to come out and cook anything for them. And arriving not even a day, Matron was already up and doting over Seifer. It was kind of hard for them not to feel a bit unbalance and the brutal treatment differences but they were not children any more, and since they regain their memories when they were still in the Orphanage had help. Even when they were young, Matron had always treated Seifer differently than other children.

And according to Ellone, who had been the first one to be send to Matron, Seifer was already with her when she first arrived.

"Good morning everyone." Matron smiled sweetly at the Seeds as she placed the freshly baked pancakes, sausages, ham and eggs on the table.

"Morning Matron." Quistis and Selphie greeted back both couldn't help but feel a bit under dress at the moment, sure they were in SeeD uniform and it's nothing too fancy but for merely breakfast, Matron sure seem to dress to impress. Sure it was nothing like her Sorceress getup but it sure was more fine than anything they had seen her in for last few months.

"Irvine? Would you be a dear and get Seifer for me? Tell him, breakfast is ready." Matron smiled motherly at the lanky young man.

"Sure." Irvine nodded and was about to get up from where he was seated but a voice stop him.

"No need, I'm here." There standing by the kitchen entrance was the say blond man. Matron literally perk up when she saw him, it wasn't something the SeeDs could miss, if nothing else, the blush that appeared on the older woman's cheeks told a different story.

"Are you hungry? Breakfast's ready for you. I do believe you didn't really have anything to eat last night when you arrived so I came early this morning. "Edea smiled at the blond, it was so different than the one she gave to the other SeeDs.

"Thanks." Seifer nodded and help himself with the food.

"I also brought you some extra clothes you might need for your stay. You tend to not bring much with you when you're traveling so I thought you could use them. Do you want to try them out later on to see if they fit or not?" Edea asked in an almost nervous manner. Surprising the three SeeDs that were just there helping themselves with some of the foods even they had eaten before.

Okay, now they really felt weird. Quistis, Selphie and Irvine exchange glances. Matron was acting out of character in fact if they don't know better they'll say Matron was acting like a teenager girl trying to impress their crush. They suppress the shiver, errug, just the mere thought freak them out.

"Edea." Seifer spoke after he's almost done with his food his choice of name for Matron had surprise the three SeeDs but the older woman visibly brighten at his call of her name.

"Do you have Hyperion?" The question had taken the SeeDs totally off guard. What!? Seifer didn't have Hyperion!? That thought was almost insane as Squall didn't have Lionheart!

"Yes, I have it with me." Edea nodded. "I've been taken good care of her she's in the case where rest of the clothes was waiting for you in your room."

"Good." Seifer nodded and finish up the last bit of egg dumping the dish in the sink before he turn to look at the dark hair sorceress.

"Come have a walk with me Edea, we need to talk."

--

"You know who I am." It wasn't a question more than a statement. Seifer regard the Sorceress with an expressionless face. A rare thing, for at this moment the blond seem so much like the other gunblader turn Commander it's almost frightening.

"Yes." How could she not? When Ultimecia had taken control over her body, the other Sorceress' memory seep through her like water to sponge. The overwhelming emotion that torn through her heart and soul when she merely laid her eyes on him was a testimonial to how much his presence had affected the Time Travel Sorceress.

It was only then she finally knew the secret the little blond boy that had always mystified her had kept from her for over two decades.

Ancient Soul.

Soul from another World and Time. One that Ultimecia had come from.

Seifer was older than even her if the memories speak truth.

"Edea...what are you trying to do now?" Seifer asked with a look in his eyes that seem almost sad, the first sign of emotion since he return to the Garden.

"I..." Edea blushed and stuttered.

"...You are not her." Hinata's feeling for him had affected the Sorceress. He had notice the change the moment Edea got inside his room. Her scents had changed.

"But I..." Edea bit her lips. Ultimecia was gone, yet, the feeling she had toward her knight, even she had been forced to change beyond recognition had faithfully remain the same. Ultimecia love Seifer. She had loved him even before she becomes a Sorceress, her feeling had changed something inside Edea, and it had made the woman saw the blond different than she had before.

A kind of change she would never want to undo.

"Don't let her feeling effect yours. You are Edea. Remember you are Edea." Seifer sighed. Hinata had never stopped her obsession with him. Even he had all torn out her heart and threw it back to her face when she saw him with Sasuke that night live times ago. But he wouldn't want Edea to get into this mess. It did not concern her and in some way, Seifer had a soft spot for the woman who had taken good care of him when no one else would.

What ever debt he had owed to the Hyuuga had been paid in full. And he would like to say good bye to his past as much as he could. Neji's dying face had finally leave him after the last remain of Hinata was gone when he got out of the Time Compression. The Hyuuga genius had made him promise to protect his 'Hinata-sama' and he did. And the ghost of the caged man would finally leave him alone. And Edea had nothing to do with that. He wouldn't want the woman to get involve in the mess up situation that made him who he is now and who he had been before.

They had remain silent as they head back to the dorm as Xu approach about some urgent issues before the dark hair Sorceress head toward the meeting lounge she had turn to look at the blond straight in the eyes and said in the firmest, no nonsense tone she had used on them when they were going out of control when they were younger.

"I am not her. But my feeling is my own. And no matter what you say and what you want. You can't stop me from feeling this way than you could stop hers. And right now, I, Edea of Wiltshire refuse to ever give up." The woman smirked at the tired look the blond sent her and gesture the confuse Xu to their destination.

"I'm not giving up, Seifer, watch me, I will never give up." She loves him, just like Ultimecia had and probably will for eternity if she was given the chance. Watch her, he might not love her the way she would want him to but that will not stop her from loving him the way other wouldn't expect her to.

He was Ultimecia's Knight.

She and Ultimecia had once been one and the same.

He too was her Knight.

And she will never let him go.

Ever.

--

--

The fallen woman slowly pushed herself up from where she had stumbled. Her clothes were ripped and slashes were seen and drying blood was clotting in the materials. There was dirt all over her skin, smoke ashes and things that could not be identified. Her once neatly kept hair was a mess, ragged and tangled with branches and other things that got caught in it.

In term, she looked like hell and when her unfocused green eyes finally took in her surrounding. This had turn into Hell for her. Right in front, not even five feet from her line of vision was her beloved.

Or rather what was left of the one she loved beyond all other?

Her mouth opened in a silent scream as tears pour out of her eyes like broken dams.

Those once soft green eyes her love had used to nickname her for had turn into an angry shade of crimson gold.

Another Sorceress had awakened.

--

Seifer watched Edea and Xu disappeared out of view as the Deputy Commander came to find the older woman when they had finish their little chat and was about to return to his room. The breeze sweep by him as he stood at the edge of the greenery in the small rose garden near the dormitory wing. He paused and glanced up at the direction the wind came from.

There's something in the air and for once, Kyuubi was silent since they had gotten out of Time Compression.

He smelt conflict, hatred, anger, blood and most of all the familiar scent of the power that came from the Sorceress.

Seifer frown slightly but his expression quickly shift back to expressionless and turn to head back to his room.

A new Sorceress.

One that was hell bent on revenge...

The smile that slowly stretched across his lips had frighten the group of cadets that walk past him into whimpering puppies as they ran away as fast as their shaky legs able to carry them.

More blood for me. Kyuubi whispered. I can hardly wait. The Fox said in an almost longing manner.

--

--

Sharp turn 04

--

'Wake up Sasuke.'

'...'

'Wake up Sasuke.'

'...erggg...'

'Wake up my foolish Otouto.'

'...tachi.'

'Get yourself together if you don't want Naruto-kun get into trouble he couldn't get out of even with the Fox's help.'

'...Naruto...'

'Yes. Now wake up if you want to see Naruto-kun again.'

"-ruto." The dark hair man groaned and pushed himself from where he was flat with his face in the sand. The waves crushed against him as he was half drench in the water. The sun was strong making him squirmed painfully. His eyes were tender, almost like when he first developed his Magenkyosharingan years ago.

"...Naruto." The man whispered as his voice broke and cracked with hidden longing.

"Naruto..." Yes. His lover was alive. He could feel his chakra. The man glazed into the distance. The hollowness in his chest after he lost the blond had been filled.

His Naruto was alive. Not dead to the world. Cold and limp in his arms where he screamed until his throat was torn to shreds nor was he being turn into nothing but dust when the Kyuubi's chakra escape it's mortal prison.

Naruto was alive and out there.

His Naruto was out there and in danger.

He'll find him. He'll find his lover and nothing else in this world could torn his blond away from him. He swore upon all his clan members' grave.

The Uchiha's was nothing but possessive. It was in their blood. The 'Cursed blood' as a demon once called him.

--

Across the ocean inside Balamb Garden, the former Sorceress Knight and the former Sorceress both snap to attention. Ignoring the curious looks the other seeds sent their way. They stood up as one and look into same direction. Moments later, Edea turn to regard the blond with worried expression. The blond was still glazing with unfocused eyes at the direction where she had felt the surge of power.

"My dear, what is that?" Edea placed her hand on the taller man's arm moving closer trying to get the safety while her 'knight' was around.

"...Nothing." Seifer calmed the laughing Fox that was howling in his mind he glance down and gave Edea the same kind of smile he gave to the other while he was wearing his mask.

"Seifer..." Edea frowned and hugged the other refusing to let go even at the weird looks the Seeds were sending her. "What is that I felt? I know you felt it as well and you knew what that was, please tell me..."

"It's nothing Edea... just someone announcing their arrival." Seifer smiled briefly. The Uchiha never did anything by half, even when they were down to one surviving member.

Sasuke's here.

--


End file.
